Fire fighters called to both sides of the county

Wednesday

Sep 25, 2013 at 8:31 AMSep 25, 2013 at 8:31 AM

By Don Reiddwreid@aol.comUNION TOWNSHIP — Two fires gutted a pair of homes at opposite ends of Branch County Tuesday.The two-story farm house of Chris and Marcy Mead at 1056 Arbogast Road was gutted by flames Tuesday morning. Later Tuesday afternoon, an Amish bishop saved the life of Robert Austin when he woke him from a deep sleep as fire burned in his trailer home at 868 S. Ray Quincy Rd., just after 2 p.m. in California Township.A man driving by the Union City residence spotted flames and stopped. When he found no one home, he asked the neighbor across the road to call 911. The call came in at 9:48 a.m.Flames could be seen in the downstairs (south end) of the two-story farm home, as the blaze quickly spread throughout the structure. Smoke was visible from River Road in Coldwater and from Athens.Union City Fire Department responded quickly and asked for mutual aid from Tekonsha, Sherwood, Burlington and Athens for manpower and to ferry water from the village of Union City hydrants.The neighbors called Marcy Mead, a fourth-grade teacher at Union City Elementary School, and she came to the home. Her husband, Rick, joined her, arriving from his restaurant, Fabiano's on M-60. He is the girls' softball coach at Union City High School.The couple could only console each other and their teenaged son and daughter, who arrived later.Only a garage and west extension of the house were saved, after fire spread to the roof, which caved into the second floor.The cause of the fire is under investigation. Branch County Sheriff Office (BCSO), LifeCare and Consumers Energy assisted at the scene.Later in the afternoon, Austin was sleeping when a neighbor, an Amish bishop, drove by his home on South Ray-Quincy Road."He said he saw the smoke and came to the door when he saw my truck parked in back," Austin stated. "I wouldn’t have gotten out alive if he had not banged on my door."Austin's wife, Becky, was at work. Austin did not hear smoke alarms in the home.Austin said the smoke was very heavy but he managed to grab two female dogs and 10 puppies and get them out before he fled, taking his truck across the road with the dogs.Because it mans its station, the Fremont (Ind.) Fire Department quickly had a truck at the scene — three miles away — and put out the fire before it spread beyond the living room. There was smoke damage to the entire structure.The cause of that fire also is under investigation.